Ryan Pratt

I just unlocked the The Great Gatsby Opening Weekend sticker on GetGlue

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This movie certainly excited you, which is why you rushed to the theater to see The Great Gatsby during opening weekend. Share this one proudly. It’s from our friends at Warner Bros.

I just unlocked the Marvel’s Iron Man 3 Box Office sticker on GetGlue

8707 others have also unlocked the Marvel’s Iron Man 3 Box Office sticker on GetGlue.com

Don’t you wish you had your own Iron Man suit? We sure do. Thank you for seeing Iron Man 3 in theaters. Share this one proudly. It’s from our friends at Disney.

I just unlocked the Scandal: #WhoIsTheMole Jake sticker on GetGlue

2436 others have also unlocked the Scandal: #WhoIsTheMole Jake sticker on GetGlue.com

Who is the mole? Is it Jake? Tune in to Scandal Thursday night at 10/9c. Share this one proudly. It’s from our friends at ABC.

I just unlocked the The Last Exorcism Part 2 Box Office sticker on GetGlue

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Did you just jump in your seat? We did! Thank you for seeing The Last Exorcism Part 2 in theaters! Share this one proudly. It’s from our friends at CBS Films.

There used to just be news. It didn’t come in multiple forms. In the beginning, it didn’t even come from multiple sources. It used to just be word of mouth. You heard about the news from friends, family, and neighbors. It was extremely local, which in turn made it extremely interesting and extremely relevant. Any and all news was newsworthy.

Then specific news sources were created — newspapers, followed by radio and TV, and finally the world wide web — eventually creating a news network so vast, reaching so many, that news was no longer newsworthy.

So news was divided into sections, creating not only local and national news for specific geographic regions, but also topical sections based on human interests. These human interests became the key to delivering the most newsworthy information to the most interested audience. And so, self-selecting audiences were born. Audiences who self-selected themselves as being interested in certain topics and sections of news. It started in the form of “pass me the sports section”; which became “favorited” niche websites and blogs; and eventually became what we know today as a “Like” or a “Follow”.

But today, news is not only divided into sections for specific self-selecting audiences, it’s also broken down by specific keywords. These keywords are used to tag or label news with specific related terms. The entire internet is based on the relationship between these keywords. Without them, Google wouldn’t be relevant, Wikipedia wouldn’t be vast, Twitter wouldn’t be as global, and you wouldn’t end up on oranges when you started with apples. Without keywords, you not only wouldn’t be able to find what you consider newsworthy, you also wouldn’t discover anything new.

Today, news is all related through a interconnected web of keywords — the world wide web of keywords. And without it, news would die.

I’ve experienced this myself — when a company I worked for briefly split in two and became one company with two websites. It was a difficult decision, and even more difficult transition.

There are the obvious complications that come with re-branding a business: new logos, new colors, new business cards, new letterheads, etc. These are the same problems transitioning companies have dealt with for years. But today there is so much more to worry about.

Today, rebranding businesses have to consider the transitions in the digital world as well. 

There’s website domains. Is your URL available? Or how much is it going to cost you to purchase it from that squatter?

There are SEO effects. Sure 401 redirects will combat a complete domain swap. But all the work you’ve done creating inbound links from other highly-ranked websites; all the research on META tags, keywords, and descriptions; and any positive effects you’ve received from social search (SPYW) is as worthless as having a Facebook page with zero “likes.”

Which leads me to the biggest issue — and the one that eventually put an end to Netflix’s rebranding fiasco — is the question of what to do if your handle isn’t available on the social networks?

Just as there are domain squatters for URLs, there are Twitter and Facebook handle squatters. As soon as it becomes apparent any social network is the “next big thing” and opens itself up to business and companies, users sign up and sit on social network names. Heck, I’m not even squatting and I have 27 Twitter accounts and 13 Facebook usernames. But unlike URLs which have democratic companies monitoring and maintaing these domains (i.e. GoDaddy), social network handles are a ruleless wild west for name-squatting cowboys (and cowgirls).

The moment Netflix announced they were rebranding their DVD mailing service as Qwikster people jumped on net and blew up search engines with the term “Qwikster” — which inevitably lead them to find a foul-mouthed, pot-smoking Elmo who already owned the Twitter account for @Qwikster. It was major flaw in C-suite’s plan for Netflix. Something you’d expect a company as successful as Netflix to have thought of. But they didn’t. And they soon lost the quickdraw gun fight with Jason Castillo (aka @Qwikster) who’s since cleaned up is act a bit — changing his profile picture to a crest and washing his mouth out with soap — but not before single-handedly putting an end (and some bad PR) to the Netflix / Qwikster debacle.

The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) must have a sign hanging outside their door: “No wizards, witches, puppets, mutants, bridesmaids, drivers, or samurais allowed!” Because these are the films they nominated for the Best Picture Oscar this year:

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• The Help
• Moneyball
• War Horse
• The Tree of Life

And lastly, and most importantly *wink*, this is what I thought about those films:

• The Artist - See-it - 10th best film of the year
• The Descendants - See-it - 15th best film of the year
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Skip-it - outside the top 50
• Hugo - See-it - outside the top 50
• Midnight in Paris - Rent-it - 16th best film of the year
• The Help - Rent-it - outside the top 50
• Moneyball - See-it - 3rd best film of the year
• War Horse - Skip-it - outside the top 50
• The Tree of Life - Rent-it - 33rd best film of the year

IMHO, these are the films I thought were the 10 best of 2011, and the films the Academy should’ve nominated:

1. Drive
2. Source Code
3. Moneyball 
4. X-Men: First Class
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 
6. Bridesmaids 
7. 13 Assassins
8. The Muppets
9. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 
10. The Artist 

So c’mon AMPAS, is this really how it is going to be? Is that what we, the movie-watching public has to look forward to each year? Because I couldn’t care less who wins. I have no rooting interest. And no horse in the race. If you really want the tagline “Oscar-winning” to mean something to the next generation of movie-goers, you’re going to have to connect with them. And posting your “no wizards, witches, puppets, mutants, bridesmaids, drivers, or samurais” nominations is not the way.

Seth Godin recently retitled his book “All Marketers are Liars” to “All Marketers Tell Stories” — but I think he was closer the first time around. He should have stuck with his gut on this one.

The truth is, “all marketers fib.” They don’t necessarily tell full blown lies. And they’re not just telling stories (because they are in fact trying to sell you something). But they are attempting to persuade in the most effective and engaging way. And most of the time, that includes a little white lie.

So what is a “white lie” you ask? A “white lie” can be a manipulation of data, ghost written testimonial, skewed timelines, leading questions in a survey, or a simple confusion of correlation and causation. It happens all the time, in every industry, on every channel, in all facets of the function. And its not just the big name brands with big budgets, or the small-time companies trying to get a leg up on the competition.

All marketers fib.

Do you know what a QR code is? Do you know what to do with one? Data suggests not.

According to this infographic, just 52% of you have even heard of or seen a QR code, and only 26% have actually scanned one. I’ll admit, I was part of that 74% until just last weekend.

Last weekend I was the first of my friends to arrive at Happy Hour at a local Irish pub, Brazenhead, and while waiting for my friends and my Black & Tan I noticed the Heinz ketchup bottle had a QR code on it. I was bored, not yet drunk, yet slightly curious, so I decided to give it a try. If you didn’t know, I am quite the technophile, and a marketer, but even I wasn’t sure if I needed an app or if my phone’s camera could somehow automagically take a picture of this “code” and actually tell me something. I quickly realized that couldn’t be, but figured, most likely, that…

There’s an app for that.

So I pulled out my iPhone, downloaded an app, and scanned this strange black-and-white square code-y thing.

Despite the narrative this whole process took mere seconds, but just as quickly, I was disappointed. The “offer” had expired, the website 404’d, and the entire experience was ruined. Fortunately, my beer arrived soon thereafter, and I hadn’t even thought about it again until now. Or QR codes for that matter. But it’s a lesson to any marketer considering a QR code campaign. If even I, a technophilic marketing millennial, don’t use these things unless extremely bored, sober, lonely, and it’s literally right in front of my face:

What’s going to entice some random person scan one? 

C’mon. All the cool people are doing it.

You’re not cool if you haven’t taken a picture of yourself laying horizontally, praying, or doing something so normal they use it as a stock photo in a picture frame. And how do you expect to define yourself as an individual and stand out from the masses without taking part in an organized dance in a seemingly unorganized world?

Okay, I’m being a tad flippant. But it is tempting right? I mean the world is built by bandwagons. Why not jump on? I finally did:

• Planking: an activity consisting of lying face down in an unusual or incongruous location.
• Tebowing: a neologism derived from Tebow’s propensity for kneeling and praying—even during crucial periods of a football game.
• Stocking: a participatory photo fad in which people take pictures of themselves recreating scenes from stock photos.
• And coming soon, Flash Mobbing: a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, or artistic expression.

Now the only question is, what will the next Internet meme be?

It’s nothing new for developers to hide easter eggs in new technology and media. It’s happened since the beginning of animated film at Disney, video games like Mario, and software like Microsoft’s Windows 3.1. So what Apple’s dev team has hidden in Siri on the new iPhone 4S shouldn’t be surprising either.

What is surpising is “her” answers to the following questions:

1. “Siri, I love you.”
2. “Siri, open the pod bay doors!”
3. “Siri, where can I hide a dead body?”
4. “Tell me a story, Siri.”
5. “Do I make your horny?”
6. “Knock, knock…”
7. “Who’s your daddy?”
8. “What’s the meaning of life?”
9. “Siri, will you take a photo of me?”
10. “Tell me a joke, Siri.”

I’m dead siri-us. Just give it a try and see what she says.

If you find any others, add ‘em to this list on ListAfterList.com here: Top 10 Things You Should Ask Siri on Your iPhone 4S

What’s “Inbox Zero”? “Inbox Zero” is a system created by a guy with an awesome name (Merlin Mann) to help you “reclaim your email, your atten­tion, and your life.”

The “Zero” actually doesn’t refer to how many mes­sages are in your email inbox — though it’s basically the goal of the system — “Inbox Zero” is more about how much time, effort, and brainpower you put into your inbox. It’s a better way to manage your time and get shit done.

I’m a big believer in the need for this — though even if you agree with the need, desire to do so, and know how to do it, it’s more difficult to accomplish than you think.

And “Inbox Zero” is even more complicated in today’s multitasking world.

Today, you not only have email, but you are also connected to the world and receiving requests for your time through Twitter, Facebook, SMS, Messengers, Foursquare, LinkedIn and more. And don’t forget about all those ole-fashioned phone calls and voicemails.

We have become so wired, so connected, and such multitaskers, that there are at times hundreds of those little red dots on your screen, and by turning those notifications off, you’d actually get less shit done.

In today’s world, we need to be connected. You just need to learn how to deal with all the red dots that come with that connection, and train your brain to work through them like a to-do list. If you are distracted by the pop-ups, notifications, and dings, you are just distracted by the un-done. And that’s a good thing — because now you have motivation to finally get shit done and literally reach inbox zero (0).

If you want to learn more about “Inbox Zero,” you should definitely:

• Watch the internet-famous Inbox Zero video
• Read the free Inbox Zero arti­cles from 43 Folders
• Follow Inbox Zero on the Twitter

Facebook has rolled out yet another update, and this time it is directly taking on Twitter in an even more obvious and confrontational way. You can now “follow” on Facebook.

One of the best things about Twitter was that you could “follow” people without having to “friend” them. It was a simple yet fantastic feature that Facebook couldn’t offer. In order to “follow” someones status updates, likes, and shares on Facebook you had let them follow yours. And typically, this wasn’t an equally interesting two-way street. Typically, one person is a better “Facebooker” than the other. And typically, one person ends up regretting the “friendship.”

But now, you can “subscribe” to people on Facebook.

With Facebook subscriptions you can quickly and easily follow someone’s Facebook updates with the click of a button. There’s no accepting, no de-friending, and no two-way connections. It even allows celebrities to open up their personal Facebook profiles to the public.

But Facebook didn’t stop there, they also quite quickly and reactively stomped out the one flame Google+ had to offer — circles. Google+’s circles allowed you to create lists of people to share specific content with, thereby sparing your other connections from being “spammed” with content they didn’t care about. With the new Facebook subscriptions and revamped lists feature, you can now not only post to your “friends,” you can also post to public, family, close friends, or any self-defined list of people you’d like.

Facebook’s latest update has changed everything, and firmly protected itself against its competitors. It was a brilliant move to secure its foothold as the present and future king of the social networks. It has improved every person’s experience on Facebook — from power user to stalking Grandma. Because now, you can not only friend me and like me, you can now also subscribe to me.

Content has stepped down from the marketing throne and handed the new sales crown to it’s rightful owner — conversation.

For years, content was king. Content was the key to any successful website, service, product, or offer. Without content, you were just a salesman with a sales pitch. And that sales pitch was all-too-obvious to customers. An easy way around the cold calls and sell sheets was to create content that drove people into the funnel on their own. This funnel then filled with self-selecting interested customers — if they liked your content they more than likely would like your offer — who quickly moved through the funnel from lead to opportunity to sale.

Creating interesting and relevant content WAS the easiest way to generate leads and drive sales.

But now, conversation is king. Though content is still just as important as ever — conversation is even more importanter than ever.

Conversation is simple by definition. It’s the act of having meaningful conversations with customers and prospects. And not just over the phone or in person at conferences, conversation now occurs online — on social networks.

The same social networks that once depended on interesting content for sharing and liking — now need that content to generate interesting conversations. Without interesting conversations, your content and offer get lost amongst the clutter.

Most social networks and search engines today depend on algorithms that are smart enough to not only find what’s relevant, they also know what’s interesting. Interesting content leads to interesting conversations. And without interesting conversations, you’ll just roll down the feed and disappear like crap in a toilet. Don’t create crap!

Today, everyone is online. And everyone is creating content. Not everyone is generating interesting content that leads to interesting conversations. And therefor, you’re not reaching everyone.

The surest way to reach the masses today IS to create interesting content that leads to ongoing conversations which stays relevant longer.

Today, conversation is king!

It has become glaringly obvious over the past few months that people do NOT want to be marketed to. They hate it. They call it SPAM.

SPAM is defined by Wikipedia as “the use of electronic messaging systems (including most broadcast media, digital delivery systems) to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately.” And those who create this electronic spam is defined as a spammer.

But today, consumers define any advertisement that doesn’t openly declare itself as such as spam. And the same goes for marketers and advertisers. Just think of all the examples of people angered and upset over marketing, advertising, and hidden promotions lately:

• Tweets from people you don’t follow on Twitter
• changes to Facebook to improve profitability
• ads on Hulu despite it being a paid service
• ads in iOS apps on your iPhone and iPad
• Season 5 of Mad Men cutting two minutes out of each episode to make room for more commercials

So what CAN marketers do to promote their products and services? The answer lies in interesting and relevant content.

Marketers must now be thought leaders, advocates, and gurus in their industry. They must have interesting insights. They must be informative and enlightening. If marketers want to be persuasive, they must be people — not products.